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    • Improved School Meal Standards Unveiled
    • The Secret Life of Beef
    • Grow an Easy School Garden
    • Green and Rebuild with Chocolate
    • Healthy Kids Need Safe Foods
    • Victory! President Obama Signs The "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act"
    • New Tool for Transforming School Food: Rethinking School Lunch Guide
    • Improving School Food: Do It Now or Pay the Price Later
    • Proof in the Pudding
    • Cultivating Healthy, Lifelong Learners
    • "Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children"
    • Feeding the Children Well
    • Food Waste in the Face of Hunger
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    • Curriculum: "The Whole Plate -- A Return to Real Food"
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Home   »  Issues  »  Gardens and Food

Gardens and Food

Budget constraints often compel school districts and decision–makers -- along with parents -- to choose unhealthy, low–cost options for feeding children. And many schools have turned the cafeteria into a revenue stream at the expense of children’s health, serving high–calorie, high–sugar candy and soda, and junk food.

Fortunately, parents, politicians, and schools are beginning to wake up to the health consequences of such foods, and are daring to envision school cafeterias that not only offer appealing, nutritious food, but also offer ways to cut food waste through recycling and composting.

One of the most creative ways to connect what children eat with teaching about health, nutrition and the environment, is to plant a school garden and grow food on site. Gardens can compost food and yard waste, plowing it back into the soil. Teachers can use gardens to teach basic ecological principles hands–on, while teaching to standards on subjects such as science, math and social studies. Best of all, kids learn environmental and nutritional lessons, leading to healthier choices and healthier lives.

For a fuller discussion of school gardens and food, read Pillar 3: Green & Healthy Space in our Report.

Improved School Meal Standards Unveiled
On January 25th, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled new standards for school meals that will mean healthier meals for the 32 million American kids that participate in school meal programs every school day.
The Secret Life of Beef
Do kids at your school understand how sad their "Happy Meal" really is? Enlighten them in 6 minutes with Inform, Inc.'s "The Secret Life of Beef." Watch the video, get the whole story and consider shedding a few pounds this year...of beef, that is.
Grow an Easy School Garden
Kids love to dig in the dirt, and we all like to eat food fresh from the garden. Teach gardening and nutrition with a school container garden or garden in a bag and container gardening curricula. Container and pocket gardens are being used all over, from the U.S. to the U.K. to Africa. Use our links to learn more and start sowing!
Green and Rebuild with Chocolate
What if there were a chocolate bar whose production actually benefited people in need and the environment? And what if 51% of net sales of that bar aided Haitian rebuilding efforts? That's the idea behind the Haiti51 Chocolate Bar.
Healthy Kids Need Safe Foods
October 13th, 2011
Healthy kids need healthy food every day. Fortunately, more and more schools are focusing on serving healthy, local, organic foods for school lunch. Yet recent findings about foods marketed to children suggest that the battle to feed the children well is far from over.
Victory! President Obama Signs The "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act"
This week, President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which aims improve school nutrition and make meals available to thousands more needy American children.
New Tool for Transforming School Food: Rethinking School Lunch Guide
The Center for Ecoliteracy's "Rethinking School Lunch" guide provides ideas and strategies drawing on lessons from successful programs and the knowledge and experience of nutrition experts.
Improving School Food: Do It Now or Pay the Price Later
On May 30, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee voted to cripple the nation’s budding effort to do something about the woeful quality of school food and make America’s kids healthier.
Proof in the Pudding
A new report by UC Berkeley researchers confirms what teachers, parents, and others involved with school gardens have witnessed: students whose curriculum includes integrated lessons about gardening, cooking, and nutrition, develop better eating habits than kids without such lessons.
Cultivating Healthy, Lifelong Learners
In the Atlantic's “Cultivating Failure,” school garden programs are blamed for cheating students and lowering test scores. We disagree. Read our response and make your voice heard!
"Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children"
Changing the way we feed kids at school
Feeding the Children Well
Healthy meals and milk at school
Food Waste in the Face of Hunger
Saving just 5% of the food Americans waste could feed 4 million people per day
Curriculum: Nourish California Offers Multimedia Resources to Engage and Inspire
Nourish California is a bold new initiative designed to increase food literacy and build healthy communities. K-12 teachers, school administrators, farm-to-school and garden coordinators, food service staff, health professionals, and nonprofit support providers are invited to join the network and receive a free DVD and curriculum at www.nourishlife.org.
Curriculum: "The Whole Plate -- A Return to Real Food"
"The Whole Plate: A Return to Real Foods" is a 4-Unit course in nutrition, cooking and food systems that integrates hands-on lessons like preparing and preserving food with critical analysis of nutrition issues and food systems. By the end of each unit, students know how to make a complete meal for their families -- in fact it's a course assignment!
Healthy Food Checklists & Tools
Use these checklists, audit tools, lesson plans, action project ideas, and resources to increase healthy, organic, and locally-sourced food, and track progress at your school. Part of the Green Star Schools recognition program.
Green Schoolyards Checklist & Tools
Use these checklists, audit tools, lesson plans, action project ideas, and resources to green your schoolyard, create a school garden, and track progress at your school. Part of the Green Star Schools recognition program.

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